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Woman's Frustrated Tweet Goes Viral As She Beats $53 Traffic Ticket

WEST HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA)  -- Published author Dana Schwartz has written several books but it is a simple tweet at the moment that had made her a viral sensation.

Her frustrated tweet about a parking ticket in West Hollywood --  that many felt was issued in an over zealous manner --  is the talk of the town.

Schwartz spoke this evening with CBS2/KCAL9's Jeff Nguyen about the ticket she got Tuesday evening in the 600 block of N. Almont Drive.

"I remember because it was right in front of the sign," she says

Schwarts posted a picture of how close her bumper was to the marked line.

Nquyen said to her, "were you simply venting?"

She said, "Yeah."

While just venting, the tweet did get her a lot of attention.

"I definitely did not tweet it hoping to get a reaction," Schwartz says, "I thought, you know, pay the fine. Vent your frustrations and move on and live your life."

The tweet had other ideas.

West Hollywood Mayor John D'Amico reached out to Schwartz saying "Send me a note ... and I'll ask out parking folks to take a closer look."

D'Amico told Nguyen, "For me, it's kind of the exciting part of of social media. There's not really much of a filter."

The ticket ended up being dismissed and Schartz and D'Amico met for the first time while Nguyen was preparing this report.

After exchanging pleasantries with Schwartz, the mayor told Nguyen , "We're fallible and we make mistakes. But we also do a lot of good stuff."

Schwartz says it was never her intention to fight City Hall. Still, the three-times published author is a little taken aback at the power of 280 characters.

"It's a little disheartening," she says, "when the thing that gets the most attention is just a frustrated tweet. But you know it's super relatable. Who hasn't been frustrated by a parking ticket?"

Problem solved. Or was it?

While finishing his report Friday evening, Nguyen noticed that a car was about to get ticketed -- until he pointed out to the parking enforcement officer the meter hadn't yet expired.

The mayor said Schwartz' ticket was excused because the parking lines were not clearly painted.

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